Despite my memories from the 1970s, when matches against Boro were
turgid, low scoring affairs, the last few meetings have featured
quite a few goals ... and too many have been against us !!

The current Boro incarnation under Aitor Karanka have returned to
the Premier League and will be trying to maintain their status with
some tough games ahead. They have had a bit of a wobble with
defeat at Everton following a home defeat by Palace and a score-less
draw at West Brom. Goals have been harder to come by this
season than last in the Championship. Karanka has done well
with his summer recruitment, bringing in Alvaro Negredo from
Valencia on loan. A striker who scored regularly for
Manchester City, he is still blessed with good movement and an
ability to finish in an eccentric manner, but that is borne of
knowing where the goal is and being willing to get the ball in,
whatever it takes.

Scottish striker Jordan
Rhodes wasn't quite as prolific at Boro as he had been at Blackburn,
but he is fit again now and may be a danger because of his enforced
lay off. Good on the floor and in the air, it will be
interesting to see how he does against Premier League defenders.
Former Leicester striker David Nugent is still chasing away up
front, despite his advancing years and he is a nuisance to play
against, as he is always chipping away at defenders and not shy at
having shots at goal.

Defensively, the signing of
former Manchester United and Barcelona keeper Victor Valdez was a
surprise, but he has also had his dodgy keeper moments, with Brad
Guzan in reserve, the Villa keeper had a tough time last season
behind the back for in a relegated team. Dimitrios
Konstantopolous was a little unlucky to lose his place, as he looked
a reasonably sound goalie last season. In front of them will
be England central defensive prospect Ben Gibson, who is impressing
Sam Allaradyce with his performances so far. Strange then,
that one loan signing in the summer was a former England central
defensive prospect in Gooner Calum Chambers, who has failed to reach
the levels he looked as though he might set. Likely to be on
the bench, Chambers will watch Daniel Ayala alongside Gibson, but
the ex-Liverpool and Norwich man has a chronic lapse of
concentration too often and has been punished in the top flight, so
maybe Chambers will feature. Left back George Friend is keen
on getting forward, but lacks sufficient speed to get back once the
ball is lost, so there is scope for attacking the space that he
leaves when he moves into attack. Almost every team we play
these days has a former Liverpool fringe defender, who had move don
and returned to the Premier League and Antonio Barragan has filled
the right back slot at Boro after playing for Deportivo La Coruna,
Valladolid and Valencia. A promising younger player, who
worked through the international ranks to Under-21, his career
stalled and he is looking to put in some over-lapping runs to get a
regular run in the Middlesbrough side.

Adam Forshaw and new signing
Marten de Roon are deployed in front of the back four, with their
hard work protecting the defence. A three man attacking
midfield unit usually consists of George Nsue, Gaston Ramirez and
Stewart Downing. The latter two are reasonably well known to
Premier League watchers, with Ramirez flopping at Southampton and
Hull City, while Downing has been around working his way through
Aston Villa, Liverpool and West Ham before returning to Teesside.
A winger who has never really fulfilled his potential, he is now
entering the veteran stage being 32 and his wing play does not look
any different to when he was much younger (and that is not a
compliment). Ramirez looks a strongly built player, but has
the propensity to disappear from games. On the other hand, he
can produce a moment of magic, but not that often fortunately.
Nsue, I don't know too much about, but what I have seen recently is
not that impressive. He might be quick, but his control over
the ball and what he does with it are not that great. He can
put a good ball in now and again, so it will be down to Davies to
stop him doing that.

Amongst the squad they have Grant Leadbitter, who seems to have been
running around in midfield forever, while Adam Clayton played a big
part in their promotion push last season, being able to chip in with
the odd goal. Vicktor Fischer has been signed from Ajax
and had been linked with Spurs for a number of years. Still
only 22, he is seen as a long term eventual replacement for
Christian Eriksen at international level, as he was at club level in
Holland, but while he possesses strength and skill, he sometimes is
not preferred for a starting role for some reason. Fischer has
the eye for a damaging pass and can also finish well, so needs to be
watched if he takes part.

Uruguayan Cristhian Stuari
joined Reggina in Italy, but played more games in four seasons out
on loan than he did for his parent club in the five years they owned
him before he left for Espanyol. After two years
he left for the Riverside and made his reputation early this season
with two goals in the derby with Sunderland. A player who is
capable of breaking forward from midfield, he possesses a powerful
shot on him. Adama Traore, who came in from Aston Villa, had a
big reputation as a dynamic winger, but has only played 13 games in
three years. Whether Karanka can get the best out of him
remains to be seen.

I wonder how Karanka will
play this one. Being the home side, they will be expected to
be a bit more offensive than they were at Everton last week, when
they scored early, but once the home team got back into it, were
unable to hit back. Setting up with a team to stop the other
side scoring doesn't necessarily mean you are then able to become
more offensive if the need arises.

Spurs are good away from home
and Kranaka knows this, so will put out a team to stop Spurs having
time on the ball, with Forshaw and de Roon closing down the space
outside the penalty area, where Spurs often create from.
Having signed new contracts a lot of the Spurs squad will now be
looking to push on from last season's good form and take it further.

Middlesbrough are focused on
survival this season, but will be looking to take a few big scalps
and Spurs have to make sure they are not one of them, so need to
move the ball as they did against Gillingham to pull the opposition
around. Without Kane, it might be a little more difficult, as
Janssen is still settling, but he will be confident after getting
his first Spurs goal from the spot in midweek and although Boro will
make it a tough game, Spurs should emerge with the three points.

PREDICTION

Middlesbrough
1 Tottenham
Hotspur 2

RESULTS HISTORY

Click here for
results, match reports and facts on meetings with Middlesbrough

MIDDLESBROUGH TEAM NEWS :
Fabio (knee), James Husband (shoulder) and Grant Leadbitter
(hernia) all miss the match, but Cristhain Stuani (groin) and Jordan
Rhodes
(ankle) are set to return.

TOTTENHAM
HOTSPUR TEAM NEWS :
Harry Kane (ankle) is definitely out of the match at the Riverside,
while Danny Rose, Eric Dier and Mousa Dembele will all be assessed
at the last minute to see if they are available for selection.

Not quite a game of two halves,
but Tottenham's impressive first half display put two goals past
Middlesbrough, but the second saw the home side get a goal back and
set up a wobbly last 25 minutes, when they should have been dead and
buried.

The sun shone, but a chill
wind blew as Boro kicked off at the Riverside. Alvaro Negredo
looked lively as he almost got across the near post to meet a
Downing cross, but Sissoko had already fired a shot over the bar
from distance and Alli's shot was tipped over by an alert Victor
Valdes. Hugo Lloris had to be quick out of his box to beat
Negredo to a through ball, but son Spurs were moving the ball
confidently and created a good opportunity that Heung-Min Son took
to give Tottenham a seventh minute lead. The ball was played
by Eriksen in to Vincent Janssen, who had a man at his back in the
area but held him off and laid the ball into the path of Sonny as he
ran into the area from the right. Taking the ball inside, he
drilled a low shot past Valdes' right hand from ten yards out to
make it a good quick start from Tottenham.

Son was obviously confident
after the two goals he got at Stoke City and soon he was replicating
that performance, as he netted in the 22nd minute. The ball
was played to the winger on the left side of Middlesbrough's area
and looked to have lost the ball, but got to the loose ball first a
yard from the dead ball line. Although there were three Boro
defenders around him, he ran away from goal until he was 16 yards
out. There was no red shirt going with him, so he curled a
right foot shot that left Valdes flat-footed and doubled Tottenham's
lead. it was the finish of a player in good goal-scoring form
and put Boro in a position of being caught between trying to get
back into the game or trying to contain Spurs.

They did neither really.
Alli and Eriksen went so close to getting onto through balls, only
to be denied by offside flags. Son's run down the left wing
saw him play a low ball in to Eriksen and his shot was blocked,
taking it into the path of Sissoko, but Valdes recovered to block
the shot from the Frenchman and Spurs got a corner. When it
went to the far post, the ball was worked to Dele on the left by
Sissoko and Stuani came in behind him giving him a nudge on the way,
but referee Scott pointed for a goal-kick, taking the easy way out
rather than awarding the penalty the foul deserved.

Spurs were stroking the ball
about to dictate the play and Sissoko almost played an inviting ball
across goal, but defenders got there to clear. Son got the
ball and hit a shot that was deflected well over for a corner.
Another corner followed and once more the ball was recycled keeping
the play mainly in the home team's half. Dele Alli had a shout
for a penalty as Ben Gibson challenged for a ball into the six yard
box and then the England midfielder should have scored when Eriksen
nicked the ball off a dawdling Gooner Calum Chambers in his own area
and squared for Alli, who blazed over from ten yards out. Too
often Spurs players had the ball with a ten yard radius around them
without a red shirt in it and Boro were almost bringing Spurs onto
them, but they did not have an out ball or an ability to break-away.

Boos rang out as Boro headed
for the safety of the dressing room.

Spurs kicked off the second
half and Jan Vertonghen was soon slaloming the ball out of defence,
taking him into the Boro half, where he let Alli play a first time
ball through to Janssen on the left of centre. He got there
first, but couldn't wrap his foot around it enough to get it on
target. Spurs were working the ball well and forced a couple
of corners, before some neat passing in the final third saw a number
of shots blocked. Whenever the ball went loose, it was a gold
shirt picking it up and the pressure was building on Boro. Son
went down in the area as Barragan dived in, but no penalty was given
once more.

Two subs for Boro looked to
change the game, with Adama Traore and Jordan Rhodes coming on for
Ramirez and Negredo. Traore got the crowd buzzing with a pacy
run through the middle of the pitch, but his final ball was too far
ahead of Rhodes and Lloris gathered the ball. When Spurs
strung together a passage of passing, the ball was set up for Alli
to shoot just over the angle from outside the box. Boro got a
cheap free-kick when Walker was bundled over and went to grab the
ball only to find a free-kick against him and a yellow card being
waved in his direction. It looked a threatening position, 25
yards out on the left wing, but when Downing took it, he swung the
ball straight out of play. The next one, given against
Wanyama, was put into the heart of the box and Gibson rose above
Sissoko to head low past Lloris's left hand. Sissoko hardly
jumped and Gibson came over the top of him to bring Boro back into a
game that they should have had no way of getting a goal.

Sissoko had to go off after
a challenge from Friend and Lamela came on. Wanyama was nudged
over in the centre circle by Stuani and the ref gave a free-kick.
Strange that when the same sort of incident happened in the box, he
wasn't willing to blow his whistle. Tottenham were being
closed by the pace of Traore and he knocked Vertonghen over without
being penalised and could not find Rhodes with his pass. Spurs
were also picking up loose balls, manoeuvring the ball around the
box to give Son a shooting chance on the left, but his shot was
blocked. Lloris had to be alert twice in a couple of
minutes, with a race to the edge of his box, where he handled the
ball but pulled his hands back as he slipped out of the box and then
he gathered a header low down as Rhodes met Downing's left wing
cross.

Eriksen moved the ball to
the edge of the box linking well with Davies, but as he took it
inside to the D, his final pass right was short and was picked off,
allowing Boro to go forward. Walker had to conceded a corner,
then as the home team built the move up again, Spurs could not clear
the ball. Boro won a corner, but fouled when it was played in,
so when the next phase nof play developed, Chambers lost it in his
own half and Spurs broke, passing the ball in the opposition's area,
but couldn't fashion a clear shooting chance, until Lamela curled a
low shot and Valdes got behind it.

Janssen was substituted and
Harry Winks came on, but not before Gibson shoved the Dutchman two
handed in the back to encourage him to leave the field. Again,
weak refereeing allowed the Middlesbrough man to go unpunished.
However, Traore did see yellow when he lunged, studs-up on Lamela.
With time ticking down, Boro slung balls into the box or forwards
and one went up into the air from a clearing header and it fell to
Forshaw wide of the goal on the right, but his shot was well wide.

Barragan started pointing
his finger in Son's face when he had the ball in the corner at the
home end, but again, the referee failed to act, other than have a
word with him. Boro were in the Spurs half and passing
the ball about, but their final ball was long and the chance
had gone. Son tried to keep the ball in the corner again, but
gave away a free-kick in the last minute of added time, but
Tottenham won the ball when it was played forward and sub N'Koudou
fired a shot over the top. The referee finally showed some
understanding of the game when he went back to book Friend for an
awful tackle on Lamela, which could have done the Argentine
midfielder some damage if the Boro defender had been good enough to
actually get there.

The game ran out of time,
with Spurs managing the ball and surviving a bit of a scare, with
the side sitting back a little in the second half. With a long
midweek trip to CSKA Moscow and then Manchester City at home next
Sunday, it will be a tough week and perhaps you could forgive the
players having that in the back of their minds.

What Tottenham had done in
the first half, passing and moving, they didn't do as well in the
second. Some of this might have been because Middlesbrough
were a bit better, but not having the buffer of more goals from the
dominant first half performance and then not being clinical enough
with the chances in the second half, it gave Boro an opportunity
they should never have deserved.

Son was the shining star of
the team today, but honourable mentions should go to Walker and
Davies, who raided up the flanks in the first 45 minutes (and a bit
in the second); Wanyama, who covered a lot of ground and was strong
when tackling; Janssen, who battled away up front, holding up play
until support arrived, with Alli and Eriksen being that support.
They played the ball nicely in the first period, worked hard to get
it back and didn't allow the home team to get any momentum.
Spurs sit second in the league and to stay there or get further up
the table, we need to do it for 90 minutes and on a consistent
basis.

Frank Shipham

PUB
FACT*

Middlesbrough top scorer
in the 1920-21 season, Alf Gaskett was a heavy smoker, but once he
had the goal in sight, he would be on the ball like a flash.
However, opposition players got the idea to puff smoke rings near
him before he received the ball and he was distracted enough to
forget the ball. This became known as 'blowing A. Gaskett'.

Match sponsors

-

Match sponsors

-

Match ball
sponsors

-

Match programme
sponsors

-

Match shirt
sponsors

-

What you
thought

-

-.

-

-.

Other scores
during this week :

Arsenal

3

Chelsea

1

Saturday

Bournemouth

1

Everton

0

Saturday

Liverpool

5

Hull City

1

Saturday

Manchester
United

4

Leicester City

1

Saturday

Stoke City

1

West Bromwich Albion

1

Saturday

Sunderland

2

Crystal Palace

3

Saturday

Swansea City

1

Manchester City

3

Saturday

West Ham United
London

0

Southampton

3

Sunday

Burnley

2

Watford

0

Monday

League Table 2016-17

P

W

D

L

F

A

Pts

GD

1

Manchester City

6

6

0

0

18

5

18

+13

2

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

6

4

2

0

10

3

14

+7

3

Liverpool

6

4

1

1

16

8

13

+8

4

Arsenal

6

4

1

1

15

7

13

+8

5

Everton

6

4

1

1

10

4

13

+6

6

Manchester United

6

4

0

2

12

7

12

+5

7

Crystal Palace

6

3

1

2

10

7

10

+3

8

Chelsea

6

3

1

2

10

9

10

+1

9

Southampton

6

2

2

2

7

6

8

+1

10

West Bromwich Albion

6

2

2

2

7

6

8

+1

11

Watford

6

2

1

3

10

11

7

-1

12

Leicester City

6

2

1

3

8

11

7

-3

13

Burnley

6

2

1

3

5

8

7

-3

14

Hull City

6

2

1

3

7

12

7

-5

15

Bournemouth

6

2

1

3

4

9

7

-5

16

Middlesbrough

6

1

2

3

6

9

5

-3

17

Swansea City

6

1

1

4

5

10

4

-5

18

West Ham United London

6

1

0

5

7

16

3

-9

19

Stoke City

6

0

2

4

4

15

2

-11

20

Sunderland

6

0

1

5

5

12

1

-7

Position before match :
3rd
Position after match : 2nd
Position after the weekend : 2nd

* Pub facts may not actually be true, but after a
few pints everyone will think so.